NC30 tyre sizes....?

[NZgatch]

Dunlop Alphas are still readily available in Australia. They're up to Alpha 12s, now. Sticky enough to race on.

I have personal experience with a 160/60/18 Bridgestone 016 on the rear. My advice is to spend more time looking for a 150. On the street, they have a weird cliff face drop, and I kept thinking I had lowsided the bike when tipping in just that little bit harder. On the track, I'd tip it past that point off the bat, so wouldn't notice, but the tyre is quite flat on the rim and it really affects your ability to put the bike on its side. If you're doing trackdays on it, it's seriously a horrible tyre. I was missing apexes on slower corners and unable to hold a tight line on longer corners.

I've seen a 150 profile BT016 on an NC rim, and while the sidewall still balloons like my 160 did, the tyre profile is much better. My new Alpha has more traditional sidewalls (as do the BT090s) that smoothly go from the narrower rim to the wider tyre radius.

I use a12h as well. I've got no issue with them whatsoever. Warm after one lap, they have good grip right to the very edge. I run around 26psi cold, depending on the day. My current rear has seen 6 ? track days, so 35-40 heat cycles and while are almost completely worn out, it still sticks like shit to a blanket.

[StrayAlien]

090's have dried up in Australia - no longer available! RIP my friend...

I phoned the Bridgestone importer in Sydney about a month ago and they had 6 x 18" BT090 rears in stock - he said they were not discontinued. He said the BT090 front was discontinued though, he said they were replaced with a BT092 (I think). But, as far as he knew, the 18" BT090 lives on ....

I also recently got a set of BT090s imported into Australia from www.intobikes.co.uk. It ended up costing me about $90 less than in Oz. Go figure.

Greg.

[Cammo]

Yeah I think I'll be looking at importing some 090's in the future, keen to try the alpha 12's though.

[Wilson]

A bloke at the track on the weekend had 090s on his NC. He said if you email Rob at racinglines.co.uk, he should be able to help you out. Worked out cheaper than local Oz prices (as usual) even with postage. Just another source for those still keen on the Bridgeys.

But yeah, I'm well happy with the Alphas so far.